


life in moonshadow

by queenglimmah



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is still She-Ra, F/F, F/M, Force Captain/Horde Lord Adora, Magicat Catra, Magicats (She-Ra), Princess Scorpia, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, ends with Catradora and Glimbow, starts out Glitra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25976530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenglimmah/pseuds/queenglimmah
Summary: Catra stops dead in her tracks. She feels the blunt end of a Horde issued baton dig painfully in between her shoulder blades, and if she weren’t restrained, this cadet would beverysorry right now.She senses something familiar, something safe, something that should not be present in the corridors of the Fright Zone. Catra cranes her neck and looks around desperately, willing her magic to reach out and find her, her last hope, because...there’s a princess in the Fright Zone. And she’s a powerful one.AU where Catra is raised in Half Moon instead of the Horde.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	life in moonshadow

**Author's Note:**

> s/o to aya for being my beta! ty for always letting me bounce ideas off of you <3

Glimmer tightens her hold on the tracker pad and glares. 

The sunlight over head is glinting off the screen and making it hard for her to discern what’s on it. She growls as she tries to shade the screen with her hand, bringing it so close to her face her annoyed huffs fog up the screen. Figures, of course she’d get lost in the one forest on Etheria where everything changes constantly. If this wasn’t Bow’s tracker pad that he so graciously lent her, Glimmer would have spiked it into the ground by now and tried her luck teleporting. 

Her first official mission as commander and she’s already screwed it up, _and_ she hasn’t even left Bright Moon yet! And at this rate, she never will. Groaning, Glimmer takes in the woods surrounding her. 

The soft floating lights illuminate the mysterious Whispering Woods, the dark brown barks of the trees appearing almost purple in the shade of the canopy. Glimmer lowers the tracker pad and conjures a small sparkling ball of light in her free hand, holding it ahead of her. The pink light of her own magic glows softly in contrast to the puffs of yellow dotting the air around her, and she feels more at peace than she ever has within these trees. 

As the situation with the Horde grows ever dire, the Princess Alliance’s capabilities are being tested like never before; after all, there’s only so much an immortal queen and two non-elemental princesses can do. After resisting for years, Angella finally conceded to her daughter’s wishes and, on Glimmer’s past birthday, officially promoted her to a commander of the Rebellion. Here she was, with the perfect opportunity to prove to her mom that promoting her was a great idea, actually, the best idea she ever had, in fact, _if only she could find her way through these damn woods_. 

She knows she should’ve brought Bow with her; she’s useless with technology. Sighing, Glimmer focuses her attention on the tracker pad and, after pivoting in place a bit to get out of the sunlight- there! She can see the map again! “Yes!” she shouts, shaking her glowing fist in the air excitedly before sheepishly bringing it back down and holding it before her like a lamp, doubling her efforts as she returns to winding between the trees, her eyes never straying from the small blinking pixels in front of her. 

Glimmer is so focused on the screen, in fact, that she doesn’t even notice the silhouette that has begun to follow her. It moves swiftly and quickly, leaping from one branch to the next above the distracted princess. The rustling of leaves claims Glimmer’s attention for just a second before she shrugs it off and continues on. 

Trodding deeper into the woods, the natural sunlight that’s been filtering through the leaves has disappeared, leaving only the glow of the floating lights to illuminate the darkening surroundings. Relieved that she made sure to charge all the way up before heading out, Glimmer allows her fist to glow just a bit brighter. In the light of her magic, the Whispering Woods seems almost....homely, somehow. She suddenly remembers all the times Bow has excitedly rambled on about the magical properties of the woods, and as Glimmer takes a deep breath, magic heavy on the air that fills her lungs, she believes it. 

Holding her hand loosely in front of her, Glimmer snaps her fingers. Soft pink sparkles trail from her fingertips as yellow lights twirl between her fingers and she grins, getting ready to cast something bigger, when-

“Hey, Sparkles.”

“AHHHH!” Glimmer screams and fires into the canopy.

A squeaky laugh fills the clearing and Glimmer feels her face grow warm despite the cool shade. She spins on her heel and quickly shoves her hand behind her back as she glares at the source of her fright. 

“Catra,” spits out Glimmer.

Catra lounges lazily on a large branch behind her, her back against the trunk as her tail and leg dangle carefree over the side. She smirks toothily down at Glimmer, the muted gold of her headpiece and shoulder plating glinting softly in the light of the other girl’s sparkles. The dark greens and purples of Catra’s uniform hid her well amongst the leaves, and while Glimmer was embarrassed she was snuck up on so easily, it definitely wasn’t the first time Catra’s nearly given her a heart attack. But never before has Glimmer felt so...flustered. 

Glimmer can’t help it: she stares. The lights are highlighting Catra’s brown fur in the most ethereal way, and her eyes are shining like jewels, captivating Glimmer and rooting her to the spot. It’s hard to stay mad at a girl when...well, when she looks like _that_.

“It’s nice to see you too, Commander,” Catra quips at the girl below her. 

Glimmer blinks quickly and clears her throat. “Catra! There you are! Thank Etheria, I don’t have to use this awful thing anymore,” she says, waving the tracker pad around in explanation.

Catra snorts and drops deftly from the branch, coming up to Glimmer and taking the pad from her hands. Glimmer tries to control the flush of her cheeks when she feels Catra’s padded fingertips against her own, and she hopes the other girl is too invested in the tech to pay attention to how she’s pretty sure her fingers are shaking. 

“Just because you don’t know how to use something doesn’t mean it’s awful,” Catra replies as she drags her finger across the touch screen, bringing up the official mission report from Queen Angella. Glimmer sticks her tongue out at the other girl as she crosses her arms, making sure to keep her ball of light glowing. “Also, you do know Mount Candila is that way, right?” Catra says smugly as she reads, absentmindedly pointing in the opposite direction Glimmer had been heading in. She fixes a piercing gaze on Glimmer and adds, “Were you even trying to meet me at the rendezvous point?”

“Not if I knew you were going to be this annoying,” Glimmer snipes back as she blushes harder, stomping off in the direction Catra had pointed in as the magicat stays rooted in place, doubled over in laughter. 

Catra easily catches up, though, because of course she does, and continues her teasing. “It’s a good thing you’re so loud, otherwise I wouldn’t have found you. Should I be worried you’re this bad at being stealthy?” she smirks, her tail curling mischievously behind her as she leans in close to Glimmer. “S-Should I be worried you’re such a smug know it all?” Glimmer stutters weakly in response as she leans back. Catra laughs squeakily again. “Whatever,” she says, rolling her eyes good naturedly before refocusing on the tracker pad.

“Hmm, looks like it’s another day and a half from here. I vote we make our way as far west into the woods as possible and make camp once night hits,” Catra offers after looking over the files carefully, her mismatched eyes greedily taking in everything on the screen in her hands.

“Sounds good to me. Oh, before I forget! Auntie Casta sent some snacks,” Glimmer exclaims as she reaches for the pack on her back, pulling it onto her chest as she starts digging inside. “Ohhhh, did she make what I think she made?” Catra asks, eyes widening with an almost childlike intensity as she watches Glimmer root around. Glimmer giggles at the other girl as her fingers finally brush against warm cloth. “Please, like Auntie would ever make you anything else. You know she loves you, right? I have to practically _beg_ her to make these for me,” she replies as she hands Catra the lovingly wrapped coffee buns. Catra excitedly snatches the buns from Glimmer’s hands, a loud purr starting up in her chest as she holds them up to her face, inhaling deeply and sighing happily. 

“Have I told you how much I love your Aunt?”

“First Bow, now you? I’m starting to get jealous.”

Catra throws her head back and laughs, wrapping one arm around the shorter girl’s shoulders and squeezing tightly. As Glimmer’s face warms yet again, she silently sends out a thanks to her Aunt’s baking habits for keeping Catra’s attention off of her and her newfound incessant blushing. 

“Now come on, Sparkles, we should try and hit the edge of the woods by nightfall; your terrible sense of direction wasted a lot of time.”

“ _Terrible_?”

* * *

The doors to the Black Garnet chamber slide open with a hiss. 

Shadow Weaver, gnarled hands wrapped around the bowl in front of her, straightens her back. The dull red glow of the Black Garnet casts the chamber in a menacing light, and she revels in the relative darkness the gem offers compared to the harsh neon green lighting of the rest of the Fright Zone. She releases her grip on the bowl and turns her head to the side. 

“Status report,” she commands.

“The squadron just completed the training exercises, Ma’am - in record time, of course,” a voice from the doorway offers obediently. 

“Excellent,” Shadow Weaver responds cooly, finally turning around. 

In the doorway to the Black Garnet chamber stand two girls. The blonde one stands at attention, eyes staring straight ahead as she waits for her commanding officer to issue further orders; everything about this girl, from her cleanly shaved undercut to her wrinkle free uniform, is in perfect regulation. Standing behind her and a bit off to the side is a hulking figure trying to cower behind her own claws. Shadow Weaver turns to address her.

“And you?” she asks derisively.

Scorpia flinches and straightens up, keeping her eyes trained solely on the back of Adora’s head.

“I’m, uh, real hard at work on connecting with Mom’s old diadem now that you’ve, ahh….fixed it….Ma’am, so here’s to hoping any day now! Hopefully,” Scorpia rambles, worrying the tips of her claws together behind the small of her back. 

Shadow Weaver scoffs.

“Typical. Why I expected anything more out of a two rate princess, I’ll never know,” the sorceress spits out, the shadows in the room quickly pooling at her feet in another unnecessary -yet still terrifying- show of power. “You are to double your training in the chamber with me, and if you do not connect with the runestone soon, Princess, there will be dire consequences, am I understood?”

Scorpia audibly gulps and nods her head vigorously. “Y-Yes, Shadow Weaver,” she replies, bringing a claw up in a sloppy salute. 

“Very well,” Shadow Weaver says. She releases her control on the shadows and allows them to retreat before refocusing her attention on Adora.

“Dismissed.”

Scorpia doesn’t need to be told that twice - as soon as the word is past Shadow Weaver’s lips, the girl bolts out of the doorway, the tip of her stinger banging against the frame with a  
reverberating clang in her haste to leave.

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver croons, “come here.”

Adora dutifully steps into the chamber, allowing the doors to finally slide shut. She stands in front of the sorceress, hands clasped behind her taut back, silent. 

Shadow Weaver places her hands on either side of Adora’s face. Her palms glow softly against Adora’s skin, and while she wouldn’t say it’s a pleasant feeling, it’s not entirely unpleasant one either. 

Just as the light begins to flood Adora’s eyes painfully, the sorceress removes her hands.

“You have done well, Cadet,” Shadow Weaver says, patting Adora’s cheek affectionately. “I see big things in your future, but only if you keep this up. If you were to slip…”

“Don’t worry, Shadow Weaver, I won’t,” Adora promises.

Shadow Weaver glances down at the girl in front of her, and Adora swears the slits in her mask narrow for just a second, before she chuckles darkly. “No, you won’t,” she agrees. 

And as Shadow Weaver reaches for her again, everything goes black.


End file.
